Ms Nice Guy
by aliciousness
Summary: AU. Sora looks at Kairi as if she's grown a second head. The idea is so idiotic. It reeks of trouble, of desperation, and yet, he finds himself actually considering it. - S x K
1. Phase 01: Discussion

**A/N:** So I've had this idea for a while now, and I've been wondering how to approach it properly, but now I think—no, I _know_—that this route is the best way to go. My original prompt was to have subject A (Kairi) be a wingwoman for subject B (Sora), but the writing for that idea didn't flow as fast as this one did, so I guess I'm sticking with this one, guys!

Currently, I've decided that the following content will be a four-shot, so three more chapters and this baby's done. If you've read my material before, don't fret. This shouldn't delay D&L's updates too much. If you haven't read my work before, I sincerely hope that you enjoy the following content.

Now, without further ado, I present to you Ms. Nice Guy!

**Disclaimer: **The following story is a work of fan fiction. The author does not, in any way, own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. Other names, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events, other stories, locale, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

* * *

**MS. NICE GUY**

**Phase 01: Discussion **

Kairi sighs in content as she relaxes into her couch.

She throws her feet up on the coffee table, turns on the TV, and shamelessly digs into her bowl of extra buttery popcorn with her diet cola waiting on the side.

_Ah, yes,_ she thinks. This was it. All the necessary ingredients for a good Friday night.

After she revels in her sinfully delicious sugary drink and incredibly salty snack for five minutes, she suddenly realizes that something crucial is missing.

She steals a quick glance at her watch and smirks.

_Not too long now,_ she thinks.

She's halfway through her episode when she hears it: the unmistakable sound of hurried, angry footsteps in the hallway. _His_ footsteps: _his_ Louis Vuitton loafers, stomping across the wooden surface with desperation.

Kairi initiates her mental countdown with excitement and anticipation. _Incoming in three, two, one…_

Her front door swings open, and in walks her expected visitor. She hears him kick off his shoes, rummage through her kitchen for a bottle of beer and a pack of peach penguins, then finally, sit next to her on the couch with an exasperated sigh.

"What was it this time?" Kairi asks as she pops another kernel into her mouth. "Shut in? Unendurably bad breath? Small tits?"

"She started flirting with our waiter five minutes in," her companion answers with dismay. Kairi throws her head back with a laugh.

Sora Hikari is, if anything, her best friend. Ever since they'd met in the elective that they shared in second year university, they'd been inseparable, even when Kairi found out that Sora was _the_ Sora Hikari of Hikari Enterprises: one of the most successful technology-orientated companies galaxy-wide.

Although his cousins, Ventus and Vanitas, now ran the company as twin CEOs, it was Sora's duty as a secondary branch member to "marry within the successful business line" and have "successful business babies" to ensure that the empire ran on "successful business blood" alone. Twenty-five had apparently become the new thirty-two, and now Sora was being forced into countless dates by the company in order to find a suitable young businesswoman to be his bride.

The whole thing was quite preposterous, really, but Kairi, simple, romance novelist Kairi, seemed to be the only one finding the humor in it.

"So were you not good enough for her or something?" she asks, clearly amused.

"After she realized that I was actually paying attention to her _face_ rather than the obnoxious cleavage that her top—piece of cloth, really—provided, she decided to hit on the waiter in hopes that she'd get some action tonight," Sora explains.

"And what, you didn't want to get with that tonight?" Kairi asks with an entertained grin.

"Hell no," Sora says, recalling the immediate distaste that he felt for the young woman earlier that night. "She was way too clingy and a total attention seeker."

"Did she at least capture the attention of the waiter like she'd hoped?"

"Nope," Sora says as he takes a sip of his beer. After licking his upper lip dry with a satisfied sigh, he tends to her curiosity with a grin. "Waiter ended up being gay."

Kairi bursts out laughing then covers her mouth in hopes that she didn't wake her sleeping flatmate. "Aww, poor baby."

"Poor baby!" Sora repeats incredulously. "Please, the bitch had it coming." Then, after running a hand through his hair, Sora's arm drops to his side in defeat. "Why can't the company send a normal, down to earth girl my way for once? Is that so hard?"

"Maybe it wouldn't be if you started looking for a potential partner by yourself," Kairi suggests.

"Yeah right," Sora says as he takes another sip. "I have absolutely no interest in dating the women that I meet during meetings or business trips. They're either a) so self-confident and incredibly work-oriented that they think they're too good for petty little things like dating, b) look like they have a stick up their ass, or c) all of the above, but with overbearing red lipstick."

"How are you certain that they're all like that? Who knows, maybe one of them is really nice," Kairi proposes with optimism.

"No, fuck that," Sora says, rejecting the possibility almost immediately. "Penguin me."

"Penguin," Kairi says, tossing the peach-flavoured gummy in the air for her companion to catch in his mouth. "So, what now? Are you just going to keep running away from every candidate like she's the bubonic plague?"

"Probably," Sora answers truthfully. "Unless you can find a viable option for me that can get me out of this agonizing process faster."

"Why don't you just leave during the date, then? You clearly don't want to be there. Share some honesty with the girl and just leave due to disinterest," Kairi suggests.

"Okay, no. First of all, that wouldn't be professional, and second, that's just plain rude," Sora points out as he lowers the tip of his beer bottle towards her.

Kairi throws her arms up with a groan. "Oh, hell, Sora. You need to stop playing Mr. Nice Guy." Then, as if a blinding, holy light just hit her square in the face, Kairi gasps and punches an enthusiastic fist in the air. "I got it!"

"If by 'it' you mean brain damage, then yeah," Sora teases.

Kairi disregards her best friend's unneeded comments with a wave. "No, no. I know exactly how we can solve this conundrum."

"_Conundrum_?" Sora repeats with questioning eyes.

"Shush," Kairi demands. "What you need is an excuse, right? Something, or some_one_, to get you out of the date when it gets borderline unbearable."

"Right," Sora agrees with slight confusion. "So how do we go about this exactly?"

"What you need, Sora, is a Ms. Nice Guy," Kairi announces proudly.

"I beg your pardon?" Sora asks, his full on confusion making itself apparent in his eyes and head scratching.

"A pretend ex-girlfriend!" Kairi exclaims. "It's totally fool proof. Every time you need to get out, you'll just flash some sort of signal, and your fake, desperate ex-girlfriend will come running and attempt to get back with you! Your date, who is, as you say, far too 'professional', won't dare to interfere with such insignificant matters of the heart, and will be forced to let you go off on your merry way. If she's a special case, like the one from today, for example, she'll probably get offended, throw a fit or two, then let herself out. Either way, they'll all eventually get the hint and leave, and you'll be home free! Fool proof!"

Sora looks at Kairi as if she's grown a second head.

The idea is so idiotic. It reeks of trouble, of desperation, and yet, he finds himself actually _considering_ it.

"So, what do you think?" Kairi asks, hoping for a positive reaction.

"I think it's crazy," Sora answers with blunt honesty, but as the redhead's shoulders slump in defeat, he adds, "So crazy, that it just might work."

Suddenly, she squeals, and then she pulls him in for a quick hug.

"Oh, this is going to be so exciting!" she mumbles into his dress shirt. "I can't wait to get all dressed up and act all diva like!"

"Wait, what?" Sora asks as he gently peels himself off of her. "_You're _going to be Ms. Nice Guy? I thought we were going to go through auditions and hire a professional actress or something!"

"Ex-fucking-cuse me," Kairi says with mock offense. "I'll have you know that there's no one out there who can execute this plan better than I can, mister. How would I know? Because I came up with it. Now get ready, booboo," Kairi orders as she throws on a pair of sunglasses. "Mama's coming for you."

And when she begins to practice a variety of different accents before him, there is only one thing that crosses Sora's mind:

What had he gotten himself into?

**tbc**

* * *

**How was it? Quite short, but I figured that's how a first chapter should be. I didn't want to bombard you guys with too much information all at once. **

**So lately, s****ome readers have been disappointed to see that I only had one story posted (which is quite flattering, actually), so I decided to treat you guys with a mini side project. Here's to hoping that it'll continue to flow smoothly!**

**I hope you enjoyed the first installment of MNG! Please kindly leave a review to tell me what you thought and/or want to see in the upcoming chapters, I apologize for any grammatical errors that I might have missed, and I'll get started on the next chapter asap! **

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Phase 02: Pre-Execution

**A/N: **Has it really been a month since I last updated this? Yikes. Sorry about that. At least this chapter's a fairly lengthy one in comparison to the first.

* * *

**Phase 02: Pre-Execution**

Riku lets out a hearty laugh as he sets his Heineken down on the bar.

"Are you serious?" he asks once his best friend finishes explaining Kairi's master plan to him. On the stool next to him, Sora merely nods while running a hand through his hair. The silver-haired man only shakes his head and lets out another chuckle as he tips his bottle of beer back for another sip. "I just hope you know what you're getting yourself into."

"I do know," Sora insists. "Sort of," he adds after finishing the last of his second bottle.

"I don't understand you sometimes, Sora," Riku admits as he slides over the proper amount of munny to the bartender. "You don't even have to go through with this ridiculous plan to get what you want. There is clearly a better and faster solution to this whole ordeal."

"And what would that be?" Sora asks.

"Date Kairi," Riku says simply. While his best friend nearly chokes on his drink, Riku only rolls his eyes. He is fully aware of Sora's more-than-platonic affections towards their mutual friend, and he'd been suffering at the expense of their shameless flirting for far too long.

Sora, on the other hand, begins to trace circles on the rim of his bottle with his thumb in thought. He'd be lying if he said that the thought of dating Kairi had never occurred to him. Realistically speaking, why wouldn't it? Apart from Riku, she was his strongest pillar of support, she was cute, she was funny, and no one could make red velvet cupcakes quite like Kairi.

But despite all her amazing qualities, Sora knows that their relationship can't succeed. Not when they had one fatal flaw standing in between them: status.

Hikari Enterprises wouldn't take their relationship lightly. Although Kairi was a fantastic writer, it would take a while for her book sales to catch fire, and she wasn't exactly racking in the cash with the few articles that she contributed to the paper. She could certainly hold off on her own, and while that was enough for Sora, it definitely wouldn't be enough for the company.

They would also criticize her roots. He'd met Kairi's parents before during their visits on campus, and while they were the most welcoming and entertaining people he'd ever met, their modest occupations wouldn't meet the company's high standards.

It sounded harsh, but this was the world that Sora was unfortunately born into. The company wanted someone with family inherited wealth, unquestionable skill and intelligence, and a stern, all-business face that demanded to be remembered. Kairi was a natural beauty, and although her simplicity is what Sora prefers, she had an otherwise forgettable face.

Kairi, of course, is fully aware of all this. She's a smart girl, Sora thinks, and while he's glad that he doesn't have to explain the situation and all its painstaking entirety to her, it pains him to know that she has to understand something so superficial and—for lack of a better word—stupid.

"I can't," Sora finally says in response to Riku's suggestion. "We all know the drama that would ensue if we started dating, and I just… I don't want to bring her into that." Then, after another sip of his drink, Sora adds, "Kairi's amazing, but she doesn't deserve to be looked down upon."

Riku only sighs.

"This is so typical of you," he says, "to put others before yourself. It's admirable, but Sora, I do hope you understand that there's a fine line between selflessness and letting people walk all over you."

* * *

The following morning, Sora tunelessly whistles to himself as he makes his way to his apartment unit. In one hand, he twirls his car and house keys around his index finger, and in the other, he holds a tray of two coffees: a plain double double for himself, and a grande sugar-free iced soy caramel macchiato, filled exactly eighty-percent of the way with the foam shaped into a tulip on the surface.

If you haven't already guessed, the overly specific latter isn't his. Explaining that mouthful to the barista every morning seemed like far too much work in his opinion.

He jerks his house keys into the lock of apartment 16B, and as expected, Kairi is already inside, waiting for him in his dining area with one leg crossed over the other.

"Good morning," she greets with a sweet smile gracing her lips.

"Morning," Sora says as he sets the tray down in front of her. He then notices the various bowls and ingredients that Kairi has set up on the table and raises an eyebrow at her in suspicion. "Are we baking today?"

Kairi offers him a slight nod as she takes a sip of her drink. Sora sighs and lazily plops down on the seat next to her.

"It's going to get really messy in here," he says while drumming his fingers on the edge of his cup. "Ugh, this is going to be a pain."

"Oh, stop," Kairi says. "I know this distaste is all for show. You may treat it like a burden now, but I know you love your niece and nephew."

"I love them when they're not sticky and covered in flour," he points out.

"That's what baths are for, Sora," Kairi reminds. "Not that you'd know, of course."

"Ha ha," he says with sarcasm. "Are we going to continue to mock the regularity of bathing now, or are you going to have to take a shower with me to ensure that I'm clean?"

He smirks victoriously at the embarrassed blush that tints her cheeks.

"Sora, I was just joking," she mumbles. He places a warm, reassuring hand over hers in understanding, and she looks up at him expecting some heartwarming comfort about their friendship, but of course, that isn't exactly what she receives.

"Kairi, I've known you for six years," he starts. "You don't have to tell me that. I know that everything about you is a joke." Then, before bumping fists with the air he adds, "Including your birth. Ohhh!"

Kairi scoffs at the pathetic insult. "Bitch, please. If it weren't for my birth, you'd be eating Kraft Dinner for the rest of your life."

"You're right," Sora admits with a fake sob. "I am nothing but a hopeless, empty void of despair without you. Please don't ever leave me, Kairi Misaki. Please, whatever you do, don't leave me to take on this sadistic dog eat dog world alone!"

"And this, ladies and gentlemen, is my friendship with Sora Hikari," Kairi presents to no one in particular. "Where our conversations over ridiculously overpriced coffee range from baths to voids of despair and the over dramatization of our society within two minutes."

Sora merely raises his cup and holds her gaze with a grin as an unspoken sign of gratitude towards their camaraderie. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Kairi smiles at him warmly before hitting her drink against his. "Neither would I."

After taking a long, satisfying sip, Kairi interrupts the comfortable silence that follows suit to ask the following:

"So when's your next date?"

Sora chuckles behind the rim of his cup. "Are we seriously going through with that plan?"

"Hell yeah we are!" Kairi says with enthusiasm. "Don't tell me you've changed your mind overnight."

"It still sounds really desperate to me," Sora confesses, but in all honesty, it's the conversation he had with Riku the night prior that makes him hesitant.

"But you _are_ desperate," Kairi reminds.

"Gee, thanks," Sora says with sarcasm, but Kairi completely disregards his comment to satisfy her own interests.

"So when—and not _if_—we go through with this, I'm thinking that we'll need some sort of system," Kairi says whilst tapping her chin in thought. "Something that will let Ms. Nice Guy know when to strike."

"A secret signal," Sora clarifies.

"Precisely," Kairi agrees. "Gestures are basically wailing sirens, so we'll probably have to use verbal hints. We'll agree on a word, and once you casually use said word in a sentence, I'll come running."

Sora crosses his arms with an amused smile. "You're really excited about this, aren't you?"

"Well yeah," Kairi admits without a moment of hesitation. "It's like I'm going undercover on a super secret mission or something."

"You're going to try and scare a girl away from me," Sora simplifies with a chuckle.

"Quit raining on my parade," Kairi demands with a pout, and Sora can't help but think her adorable in that moment. "So, what word do you think we should use? I think it should be simple so that it doesn't sound abnormal in a sentence, but also something that you wouldn't use so casually."

"Bumbaclot," Sora suggests. Kairi resists the urge to slap her forehead.

"Nipple," Sora tries again.

"Sora," Kairi warns. At this rate, the entire mission was going to be hopeless.

"Penis," he says bluntly, but before Kairi can hit him across the head, the doorbell comes in for the save. The two of them go to answer the door, and on the other side, Sora's twin brother Roxas stands alongside his wife Naminé and their two overactive children.

Six months ago, it was by unspoken agreement that Sora and Kairi would take the kids off Roxas and Naminé's hands every Saturday while they went out on an innocent date. They claimed it was for relaxation, but Sora strongly suspects that they're just trying to create more of their little krakens in the bedroom.

"Hey Rox," Sora says with a playful salute, and just as he's about to greet his sister-in-law with a welcoming hug, the twins zip past him in a blur of black, white, and blonde.

"Auntie Kairi!" the three-year-olds exclaim in joy. Kairi giggles as she scoops them into her arms. She addresses the young boy to her left first with a gleeful smile.

"Hello Syo," she greets. Then, after squishing her cheek against hers affectionately, Kairi greets the little girl to her right. "Akko."

"Hey, what about Uncle Sora?" Sora himself asks with impatience. He suddenly regrets his impulsive outbreak when the twins turn their attention to him and pounce without warning. Had it not been for their father's quick reflexes, he might have been knocked to the ground.

Naminé attempts to stifle her laughter with a hand over her mouth. "Sorry about their behaviour. They were just really excited to see both of you."

"More so Kairi by the looks of it," Roxas snickers.

"Auntie Kairi, are we going to bake something today?" Akko asks excitedly.

"Ah," Naminé says with an amused smile. "That explains it."

"We sure are!" the redhead then answers, and when the twins begin tugging on her arms to drag her into the kitchen, she sends the kids' parents an apologetic look.

"It's okay," Naminé mouths, and she dismisses her little krakens with a wave.

"We really appreciate you two baking with them, but _please_ don't let Syo stick his head in the bag of sugar again," Roxas pleads. "He was wired for an entire week last time."

Sora winces as he recalls his nephew's inhuman speed upon consuming half the bag. "I make no promises, bro."

"Well then I wish you good luck on the first wave of the upcoming nightmare," Roxas says as he supportively pats his brother's shoulder. Then, after glancing at his watch he says, "We should be back by five."

"Sure, take your time and have fun," Sora says as he ushers the couple out the door with a nod. "But not too much fun," Sora adds with skittish eyes.

When his wife isn't looking, Roxas jokingly makes a V-shape with his fingers and sticks his tongue through it with a wink. Naminé catches him mid-gesture, and when she does, she immediately whacks him across the back of the head and grabs him by the ear. Sora only rolls his eyes with a chuckle as he closes the door on the bickering couple.

When he enters the dining room, Akko is already hard at work with the whisk on Kairi's lap, but Syo is nowhere to be found.

"Kairi," Sora starts with an anxious look already making its way onto his face. "Where's Syo?"

"What? He's right he—"Kairi starts, but she blinks twice when she suddenly becomes aware of the empty chair to her left. Sora fearfully turns to the kitchen, and before he can even move a single muscle, his nephew already dunks his head into the bag of sugar.

* * *

When Roxas and Naminé return, it is approximately five oh four, and Sora answers the door with his hair more disheveled than usual and a snoozing Syo in his arms.

"I see the perils of Syo and the sugar bag strike again," Roxas snickers as his brother wordlessly hands his son over along with a tray of six cupcakes.

Sora's right eye twitches before he responds. "Oh, you have no idea."

"Well I hope Akko didn't give you too much trouble," Naminé says as she takes her freshly bathed daughter from Kairi's arms.

"No, she was a good girl," Kairi says while ruffling the sun-kissed blonde hair that Akko had inherited from her father.

"Mama, we baked chocolate cupcakes today!" the three-year-old exclaims, and her enthusiasm causes the four adults to stiffen and look at Syo who luckily remains asleep. Akko then begins to twiddle her thumbs in guilt.

"They were really good," she mumbles with tinted cheeks. "Auntie Kairi makes the best cupcakes."

"I know she does," Naminé says while nuzzling her daughter's head affectionately. "She also makes really good cakes. Auntie Kairi made mommy and daddy's wedding cake too, you know. She's very good at baking."

"Oh, stop," Kairi says with a playful wrist flick.

"She's not lying though," Roxas says through a mouthful of chocolate cupcake. "I don't think I've ever asked, but who taught you how to bake like this?"

"Grandmother," Sora and Kairi answer simultaneously.

"Have you ever considered opening up your own bakery?" Roxas asks. "Seriously, your stuff is amazing, and from what I know, you've had nothing but satisfied customers. Your cupcakes alone would sell like wildfire."

"Alas, we live in a cruel, munny driven world, Roxas," Kairi says dramatically. "Believe me, I'd love to, but it's just not in my budget right now."

"Opening up your own business is expensive," Naminé says. "Maybe one day."

"One day," Kairi agrees with an optimistic nod.

"Oh, speaking of business," Roxas suddenly says when he pulls out his phone. "Matchmaker told me to relay a message to you, Sora. Rumor has it that someone has a date at The Flurry of Dancing Flames tonight."

Sora's eyes immediately meet Kairi's excited ones.

"Daddy, what's a date?" Akko asks amidst the silence and shared looks.

Roxas scratches the back of his head while trying to word his explanation properly. "Well baby, when two people find each other… interesting, they spend time together to have fun and get to know each other better, and oftentimes, there's a possibility for romance."

"Did you and mama go out on a lot of dates?" Akko asks.

"Well yeah, we're married," Roxas answers with a chuckle. "Mama and I still go out on dates."

"So… Uncle Sora and Auntie Kairi spend a lot of time together," Akko points out. "Are they going to get married, too?"

Roxas and Naminé resist the urge to throw their heads back with laughter when Sora and Kairi turn as red as Kairi's hair.

"I-it's not like that, Akko," Sora stammers.

"We go on different kind of dates, sweetie," Kairi explains. "Friend dates."

Naminé pinches her daughter's cheek with a giggle when the toddler furrows her eyebrows in confusion. "You don't have to understand now, baby. It's okay."

"Well, you're supposed to meet your date at seven, so I guess we'll leave you be to get ready," Roxas says as he skillfully opens the door with his foot. "Be a good boy and don't scare this one away, Sora!"

After rolling his eyes and a few short farewells, Sora closes the door behind his brother's family and turns to look at Kairi amidst the silence.

"Do you know where the restaurant is, or do you need a ride?" Sora offers, recalling that The Flurry of Dancing Flames was located in the rather pricy part of town.

"Excuse you," Kairi says, "I happen to know where it is, thank you very much. I'm not romantically hopeless. I do go on my fair share of dates, Mr. Hikari."

"Right," Sora says, recalling the few assholes that he'd been tempted to punch in the face during their university days. "I'll meet you there at six fifty-five then, Ms. Nice Guy?"

Kairi merely winks.

"It's a date."

* * *

Back at Kairi's place, her flatmate Selphie questions her about executing her master plan.

"Are you sure you still want to do this?" she asks as she wraps a piece of Kairi's hair around her curling iron. "You're a romance novelist, Kairi. You of all people should know the outcome of these kind of situations."

"Oh, don't worry about it, Selphie," Kairi says as she looks at her reflection in the vanity mirror. "Sora's my best friend. We've done crazier things before."

"But none of them ever involved you pretending to be romantically affiliated with him," Selphie points out. "And besides, have you seen him lately? I applaud you for being able to hold yourself back around that fine combination of genes."

"Okay, so he's gorgeous and incredibly fun to be around, but so what? We pay bills. We're adults. If anything goes wrong—which it _won't_—we can handle it maturely," Kairi insists.

"Yeah, but if you put adults in situation like this, they'll act like children," Selphie warns.

"Oh, don't be a killjoy, Selph," Kairi says. "This is just a bit of fun."

After raising a questioning eyebrow at the redhead, the makeup artist eventually shrugs and goes with it. After she's done with her flatmate's hair, Selphie runs her hands through a few products before moving onto Kairi's makeup.

"So how hot do you want me to make you?" Selphie questions. "Ex-girlfriend hot or 'take me back and do me doggy' hot?"

"Doggy," Kairi replies with a laugh.

Selphie merely smirks as she readies her primer to work some magic. "If you insist."

Sora wouldn't know what hit him.

* * *

At the bar of The Flurry of Dancing Flames, Sora glances at his watch for the umpteenth time and feels his heart skip a beat when it reads six fifty-five: the meeting time that he and Kairi had agreed upon. Any second now, they would be together, and her ridiculous pan would commence.

What kind of act would she pull off tonight? Kairi certainly had a flair for spontaneity and theatrics, so he really had no idea what to expect from her tonight. For her, it was either go hard or go home, and the thought makes him scared and excited all at once.

Would she be the desperate, clingy ex-girlfriend that was driven by flailing arms and obnoxiously loud tantrums? The mysterious, but otherwise stern-faced and merciless businesswoman? The psychotic and violent axe murderer? Or maybe, dare he say it, all of the above?

In the middle of pondering the many possibilities, a young woman takes the seat next to him on the bar. After stealing a few short glances at her from his peripheral vision, Sora concludes that she's fairly attractive. She wears a long, tight-fitting black dress with a generous neckline and a slit that gives a teasing view of one of her long, creamy legs, but apart from her incredible body, the large, obnoxious sunglasses on her face immediately set Sora off.

Sunglasses indoors? What a fucking diva.

"Psst," the diva calls. Sora raises an eyebrow in suspicion but doesn't look. Perhaps she was addressing someone else.

"Psst, Sora," she calls again.

With a strange feeling Sora slowly turns to face her. She doesn't look the least bit familiar, but that may just be because of the dim lighting that the restaurant provided. "Uh, sorry," Sora starts as he rubs the back of his head. "But do I know you?"

The diva suddenly removes her sunglasses and frowns at him. "Seriously?"

Sora's jaw nearly falls to the floor.

The first thing he sees is indigo—the same indigo that he associates with the eyes of his best friend, Kairi, but he shakes his head at the possibility. No, this woman couldn't possibly be her. This woman held a promise of seduction in her eyes, and on her, the red lipstick isn't overbearing like the women from work.

It's sexy. So dangerously sexy that he has to actively remind himself that he couldn't—_shouldn't_—have a taste.

Sora gulps. It seemed he forgot to add "seductive temptress that oozes sex" to his list from earlier.

"_Kairi_?" he chokes. He doesn't press the issue any further, but the surprised, pleasant glance he sends her way speaks volumes. Having known her since university meant that he'd seen her in oversized school hoodies ninety-nine percent of the time, but this… this was certainly different, and this was definitely _not_ a forgettable face.

"Do you remember the word that we agreed on?" Kairi asks as she hands Sora an earpiece.

"Sweet," Sora says as he accepts the device and hooks it onto the back of his ear.

"Good. I'll just be at the bar the whole time, so call me, beep me," Kairi starts.

"If you wanna reach me," Sora finishes with a chuckle. Kairi throws her head back with a laugh, and Sora can feel his not-so-platonic feelings resurfacing once again.

"Good luck, okay?" Kairi says as she squeezes his hands supportively.

Sora smiles at the warmth of her hands then feels the corner of his lips turn downward when her fingers slip through his.

"Okay," he whispers.

Fifteen minutes later, Sora finds himself sitting alone at his table with a bottle of untouched wine before him.

"Are they always this late?" Kairi asks as she takes a sip of her Sangria at the bar.

"I believe the term you're looking for is fashionably late," Sora says as he adjusts his earpiece.

"Screw fashionably late," Kairi says. "I only got here a minute late and look at me."

_Oh I am,_ Sora thinks as he steals another secretive glance in her direction.

"Well, aren't you modest," he decides to say as he chuckles and reaches for his water.

"Oh, you love it," Kairi insists as she stirs her drink with a straw. Sora smiles into the rim of his glass as he glances at her from the corner of his eye once again.

"I do," he says, and he can already feel her smiling through the earpiece.

"Oh, I think your date's here," Kairi then says. "Short brown hair, blue dress. Five o'clock."

Sora turns his sights to the general direction that Kairi had specified and finds his eyebrows raising in pleasant surprise. The woman that approaches him isn't what he or Kairi expects. Her short blue dress gives her a flirty edge and accentuates her curves well, and she wears minimal makeup that only enhances her natural beauty.

"Wow. She's pretty," Kairi says, suddenly feeling outclassed as the young woman makes her way to Sora's table with confident strides. "I'd give her like a nine point eight."

"What? No," Sora immediately disagrees. "She's a total eight. You'd be a fool to think those boobs are real."

"But dat ass doe," Kairi points out. "Who knows? Maybe you won't need my services tonight after all."

"Now, now, Kairi, let's not be hasty. Looks can be deceiving," Sora warns.

"We shall see," Kairi says as she sits back to enjoy the show. Sora's stories back on her couch had always been entertaining, but were the women really as bad as he claimed them to be? It was time to find out.

"Hikari Sora, I presume?" the woman asks when she finally arrives at the table.

"That's right," Sora says while standing up to offer her his hand. "Good evening, uh… Ms. Akimoto Yuna, right?"

After offering him a slight nod, Yuna immediately snaps her fingers, and within seconds, a young man (presumably Yuna's assistant) swings by to sanitize Sora's awaiting hand. As Sora has his hand wiped clean, he hears Kairi chuckle through the earpiece.

"Really?" she asks. Sora looks over in Kairi's direction and sends her a "told you so" look in response. While Yuna unknowingly accepts his hand, Sora suddenly becomes distracted with the way Kairi's sitting on her stool. One leg crossed over the other, drink in hand, her signature smile gracing her lips—the trifecta of _hot damn_.

"Well, are you going to pull my chair out for me or not?" Yuna asks, growing impatient with Sora's lack of movement.

"Oh," is all he says when he turns his attention back to his date. "Sorry about that. I'm not usually this forgetful. I was just… taken by your beauty is all."

Well, it wasn't a complete lie, Sora thinks, but while Yuna accepts this compliment with a haughty smirk, Kairi bursts out laughing.

"That was so lame," she comments. "Did you seriously just use that?"

"Shut up," Sora mutters into the earpiece.

"Excuse me?" Yuna asks with confusion and disbelief.

"N-no! Not you," Sora assures as he takes his seat. Even from afar, Kairi can't help but notice that her best friend's posture looks more forced than relaxed.

"Red wine from Radiant Garden?" Yuna then asks when their waiter picks up the bottle to open it. "Interesting selection, Sora; however, I did hear it placed second to Atlantica's white wine. Just a fun fact."

"Really," Sora says, his voice and expression showing immediate disinterest. "That's… good to know."

Yuna suddenly gasps when the waiter reaches over to pour some wine into her cup.

"Don't pour _over_ me," she demands. "Never _over_ me. _I _bring my glass to you, understand?"

At the bar, Kairi only shakes her head in disbelief.

"So," Yuna starts when their orders are placed in front of them minutes later. "I know this is given from your surname, but I hear you work for Hikari Enterprises."

"Mm," Sora hums as he removes the wine glass from his lips. Work. This was something he could take pride in. "Yes, I do. I actually—"

"I also heard that on top of what you were already assigned, you were asked by the CEOs to start on your own project," Yuna interrupts. Then, while swirling her index finger on the rim of her cup, she adds, "Four months ago."

"Um, yeah," Sora admits as he recalls the conversation in his cousins' office. "I haven't exactly figured that out yet, but I fail to see what that has to do with anythi—"

"Why haven't you submitted anything?" Yuna fires. "They're already willing to back you up financially. Are you just incompetent, indecisive, or incapable? If our relationship is to ever succeed, I can't have a man who's unsure of himself."

"Wow, this is actually happening," Sora hears Kairi say through the earpiece. "Girls like this actually exist."

"Unfortunately they do," Sora mumbles when Yuna excuses herself to go to the ladies' room.

"I'm surprised you haven't called me over yet," Kairi admits as she finishes her second Sangria. "I would've lost it at the wine. Don't pour _over_ me!" she mimics. She watches as her best friend chuckles in his seat.

"Believe it or not, this is one of the easier cases," Sora informs. "At least this one's categorized under straight up bitch. The others like to play around and dabble in a series of different characters to make them more desirable. It really just makes for very difficult conversation."

"So how do you manage to put up with the world of the materialistic and superficial?" Kairi asks incredulously.

"Simple," Sora answers. "I have you."

And in that moment Kairi is so _so_ glad that a customer decides to block her from Sora's line of sight.

When Yuna returns a whopping twenty minutes later, she pushes Sora's last button.

"So is that how you normally style your hair?" she asks as she points to his unruly spikes with her fork.

"Yes," Sora answers as calmly as possible.

"Really," Yuna says, clearly unimpressed. "I must say it looks rather… unprofessional."

"Oh no," Kairi says with a knowing grin. She watches her best friend's fists clench under the table. She knew how fond and defensive Sora was towards his helpless spikes. He couldn't help it—they were crucial in defining who he was.

"Not the hair," Kairi announces dramatically.

"You know what, now that I think about it," Sora starts through gritted teeth. "This wine is starting to taste a little **sweet**, don't you think, Ms. Akimoto?"

And there it was: the magic word.

Kairi sets her drink down and cracks her knuckles. _Ladies and gentlemen, the curtains are finally rising, _she thinks. _Sit back and prepare yourselves, because it's show time._

**tbc**

* * *

**I know, way to leave you hanging again! Sorry about that. Before I begin my closing ritual, I would like to point out that Roxas and Naminé's kids will play a significant role in later chapters. They're not just there for shameless SoKai fluff, lol. That is all. **

**I'm also terribly sorry if you're a Yuna fan. It's not that I dislike her—someone just had to be the bitch, so why not make it one of the hot ones? At least she's still got dat ass. **

**Special thanks to **SilvericAnito, notie, The V-Blade, Blade100, It's My Lucky Charm, Guest, Crush-Chan17, Naivette, KittyKat1217, **and **ex-writer **for reviewing the last chapter and to those who have favourited and/or put this story on alert! Wow, as a writer on a new account, I must say that's a huge turnout for a first chapter. Progress, guys! **

**I hope you enjoyed the second installment of MNG! Please kindly leave a review to tell me what you thought, I'm sorry for any grammar errors that I might have missed, and I'll start working on the next chapter as soon as I can!**

**Thanks for reading!**


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